On
the evening of Saturday 28th May audiences in Manchester
and Barcelona were joined together on screen for the
first time to create their own interactive generative
cinema experience complete with sets, costumes and props.
Employing the scenographic techniques of Alfred Hitchcock
the artists created a miniature film set in which the
remote audiences acted and directed their own movie,
transporting participants into animated environments
and sets where they created their own unique narrative.
Members
of the audience in Barcelona were able to decide on
the context of this interactive telematic performance
by using an iphone app to select between seven different
background sets, which consisted of live webcams scenes
and animated environments. The participants in Barcelona
could also stand in front of a choma-key blue screen
and position themselves within these stage sets. Members
of the audience in Manchester were then transported
into this telepresent experience via their own blue-box
studio to join the ‘players’ in Barcelona
as they journeyed through the ‘Seven stages of
man’.
This
immersive interactive installation pushes the boundaries
of telematic art and generative cinema, combining the
possibilities of telepresent performance
with miniature scale-models and animated scenes for
the development of audience participation that explores
the way narratives can be revealed through a subtle
interplay between artist, audience and environment.
Documentary
video of All the world’s a screen
Selected
line-out video clips from from All
the world’s a screen
The
seven stages of man at the MACBA Study Centre
All the world’s
a screen was an interactive telematic project created
by Paul Sermon and Charlotte Gould from the University
of Salford, developed during their residency at the
Museum of Contemporary Art Barcelona Study Centre and
their studio residency at Hangar.org, a visual arts
production centre in Poblenou, Barcelona. For more information
on ‘All the world’s a screen’ please
visit the project blog http://alltheworldsascreen.tumblr.com/
which documents the entire practice-based research and
development method throughout the residency programme
from March to May 2011.
Special
thanks
To
the team at MadLab, including MadLab directors Dave
Mee and Hwa Young, project coordinator John Boothe and
designer Sam France from the University of Salford.
The team at Hangar.org, including director Teresa Badía,
Jovan Cvetkovski, Núria Marquès, Álex
Posada and Joana Cervià. Further thanks to Gary
Peploe and John Boothe for the coordination and presentation
of ‘The seven stages of man’ at the Umbro
Design Space for the FutureEverything Festival in Manchester,
to Rod Martin for software development and to director
Mela Dávila, Ariadna Pons and Marta Vega at the
MACBA Study Centre for their support in hosting the
first experiments and tests in Barcelona.
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All
the world's a screen
Between
4pm and 6pm on the 28th May the MadLab audience in Manchester
joined participants at Hangar.org in Barcelona, bringing a
mix of eccentric players, creative interventions and surreal
improvised performances in spontaneous interactive moments
of hilarity, emotional exchanges and thought provoking dialogues.
Whilst audience members in Barcelona had the opportunity to
construct sets and edit scenes, participants at MadLab in
Manchester replied with improvised props and costumes to provoke
a juxtaposed montage of impromptu performances and dialogues.
This live telematic performance was presented at Hangar.org
in Poblenou as part of their open studio season.
The
seven stages of man
With
key references to the telematic stage, user generated performances
and the dramaturgy of networked communication this project
references Shakespeare's infamous line 'All the world's a
stage' with the seven rooms of the model film set relating
to the seven ages of man presented in Shakespeare's 'As You
Like It', providing a metaphysical backdrop to steer the unfolding
plot.
Linked
between the MACBA Study Centre in Barcelona and the Umbro
Design Space in Manchester we made our first experiments and
tests with 'The seven stages of man’ as part of the
FutureEverything Festival on Friday 13th May 2011.
The audience
in Barcelona selected scenes on an ipnone and arranged miniature
characters and props within the model set in order to chroma-key
their fellow performers into the telematic scenes. 'The seven
stages of man' include four live webcam scenes and three animated
rooms that provide the audience with further interactive environments
through which they travel to discover the stages of infancy,
childhood, the lover, the worker, justice, pantaloon and the
return to second childhood. |
